


truth over dare

by silken_orchid



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-04
Updated: 2015-08-04
Packaged: 2018-04-12 23:03:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4498068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silken_orchid/pseuds/silken_orchid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sansa wanted to start anew in King's Landing. New city, new life, preferably quiet. But she hadn't counted on Margaery Tyrell, ambitious aspiring lawyer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	truth over dare

**Author's Note:**

> This work is unbeta'd, so please excuse all mistakes!

Sansa smiled at her girlfriend for what was probably the last time. It was a desperate smile.

“You don’t have to leave,” she said and tried to grasp her hand. Jeyne snatched it back though, so Sansa settled for the blue fabric of her shirt.

“No, I do, I really really do have to leave. Right now,” Jeyne said and wiped at her eyes.

Sansa tried to think of – something. Anything, actually, to make the current situation less awful. But she couldn’t. Her mind was blank and only one thought circled in her head over and over again: Jeyne can’t leave me. Jeyne can’t leave me Jeyne can’t leav –

“Please,” she begged finally, tearing up too.

“No,” Jeyne said again, her voice harder this time, “You know that this won’t work. And it’s alright, I knew that it could happen. But I just can’t do this anymore.”

Jeyne took a deep breath, her chest heaving, and untangled her shirt from Sansas vice-like grip. Then she looked at Sansa and if she wasn’t loosing the most important person in her life right now, Sansa would be ashamed of what she looked like. Her carefully applied makeup was ruined by her tears, her hair tousled because she had run her hands through it frantically. But she didn’t give a damn. This was not the time.

Jeyne sighed and tried to smile at her. She didn’t manage it quite right; it was very wobbly and small. With it, Jeyne turned and left Sansas room, not lingering at the door and closing it gently.

Sansa stared at the door, bleak and brown with various postcards taped on it. It looked like it had three hours ago. Nothing had changed. Sansa wanted to tear the pretty yellow postcards down and maybe smash her chair against it. Instead she just got into her bed; clothes, makeup and shoes still on and pulled the covers over her head. 

Sleep didn’t come.

#####  _Three months later_

Her phone was ringing. 

Sansa, hands full with books, hesitated before walking towards it.

It was probably her mother, calling to see if everything was alright. Sansa had avoided talking to her family in the last few weeks, following that awful day Jeyne left her. In fact, she had successfully avoided everything that even remotely reminded her of her ex-girlfriend. 

Which consisted of Winterfell, dark blue flowers, the smell of citrus and basically the whole North. But still, it was easier than she’d thought. She had moved to King’s Landing in summer, preparing to start her first semester at the university. And if she moved a little bit earlier than she had planned, who cared? After all, settling into a new city and her own flat was exciting and took some time. Her family hadn’t asked too many questions and for that she was grateful.

The phone was still ringing. Sansa wanted to wait until it stopped. She didn’t want to talk to her mother. But it was the third call this week and she had ignored the ones before. Sighing heavily, she slid her thumb to the green button.

“Hello mom,” she said and tried to lift her voice so it wouldn’t sound too dull.

“Sansa, how are you?” her mother asked, “I’ve tried to call you before, but you didn’t answer. Is everything alright?” Her voice sounded far away, even though the connection was very good. 

“Um, yes, King’s Landing is still really nice!” Sansa replied, trying to infuse as much enthusiasm into her voice as she could manage.

“It’s much warmer here than it is at home, even though it’s October now.”

“That is great, darling. You know, this is the one thing I miss about living in Riverrun.”

Her mother’s tone, which before had been inquisitive, turned slightly wistful. Sansa had inherited her longing for a warm climate and beautiful flowers from her mother. Catelyn Stark née Tully had been born a southener and even 25 years of living in the north couldn’t change that.

Sansas mother rambled a bit about her home now and Sansa was content to let her talk. It was nice to hear her voice.  
She let her mind drift a little, looking out of the window. It was typical autumn day in the capital city, warm and sunny. The smell of tarmac and waste filled the air. The sewerage system of King’s Landing was ancient, dating back to the time before the War of the Five Kings thousands of years before. A muffled thumping noise came from the ceiling. The person who lived in the flat over Sansas was an artist type of girl with pink hair and flower tattoos. Sansa didn’t know if the noise came from her visiting girlfriend or the fact that she was frustrated and jumping through her living room again.

“And how are your lectures? Do you have any problems?”

Her mother’s voice pulled her mind back to the phone clutched to her ear.

“They are alright, I guess. I liked what we did so far.”

“And did you meet anyone? Some new friends?” The question was as curious as it was cautious.

“Well, yes, there are some people I share a few lectures with. We talk all the time.”

The truth was that while Sansa indeed talked to a few of her fellow literature students, she would hardly call the friends. Acquaintances, maybe. Talking about comparative literature two times a week was not much, but it was more than there could have been.  
Apparently her mother was satisfied with Sansas answer though and ended the call after telling her to pick up the phone the next time she called. 

Sansa said that she’d try. She didn't like making promises she knew she wouldn't keep.

Then she cleaned her kitchen, laid out her clothes for the next day and went to bed. Sansa couldn’t help but feel a bit lonely. After hearing her mother’s voice she felt a sudden longing to see her again. 

Sansa shook her head and closed her eyes.

 

The next morning found Sansa in her seat at the front of the lecture hall, scribbling down notes as Professor Rambton droned on about the importance of content analysis in literature.

She was tired. After the phone call she hadn’t been able to fall asleep. Instead she lay in her bed and thought about her home. She thought about the way her father would smile when she told him what she did during the day. Her mother would listen and hug her if she felt that Sansa was sad. Her siblings would either talk loudly over her (Arya and Rickon) or listen somewhat interested (Bran). Her older brother Robb had moved out two years ago, going to study business at Highgarden University. Robb had gone against their father’s wishes, not just because Highgarden unarguably was the best business university, but also because his girlfriend studied botany there. Sansas second brother Jon went to Castle Black Academy at the same time, hoping to become a ranger. Her home had quieted a little after their departure and she had missed them. But now she was glad that they hadn’t been there to witness the disaster of her last relationship.

Looking up again, Sansa noticed that the other students began to pack their things. Lately it had been hard for her to focus on her studies. She didn’t know why. It was new for her. She’d thought that she’d been doing better, what with the distance to her home and Jeyne. Well, apparently she wasn’t nearly as over it as she had hoped.

Sansa stuffed her notes in her bag and followed the other students outside. A few of them smiled at her and said hello, but none stopped to talk to her, instead going to their friends and talking excitedly about the upcoming party. Sansa had been like that once too, not too long ago. Now, at lunch time, she dreaded going to the cafeteria. The last weeks she’d sat alone, eating her sandwiches in silence, trying to tell herself that nobody was looking at her oddly. It never worked.

Today it was sunny and warm, which truthfully wasn’t all that rare in the south of Westeros. But today, Sansa decided, she would eat in the park. She’d find herself a nice big tree and sit under it, eating her food and maybe read through her notes again.

Sansa noticed the flaw in her plan as soon as she walked into the park. It was crowded with students who’d had the same idea as her. After some searching she managed to find a mostly quiet spot under a tall tree, a little bit offside the roads paths that led around the park.

She sat down, unpacked her stuff and looked around. It was a very nice day and many flowers were still in bloom. This was different to the North, she mused. There it would already be quite cold and the leaves would fall. Many students were just sitting around like her, but a few played some kind of ball game and a few appeared to be sleeping. A group of girls sat a few meters away, laughing at something one of them was saying. Sansa tried not to watch them, she did. But it was impossible. Her eyes slid back to them again and again. 

After some time, one of the girls caught her eye. She sat in the middle of the group, talking animatedly about something and laughing. The girl had long brown hair and waved her hands around, a necklace gleaming around her slim neck. Sansa watched her for a bit, fascinated with the way her slender hands moved through the air. It were strangely graceful movements.

Suddenly, she noticed that the girl was looking back at her. Blushing, she dropped her gaze down to her notes, taking another bite of her sandwich, trying to appear busy und uninterested. She couldn’t concentrate on the words and read the same sentence for about two minutes. But Sansa stubbornly didn’t look to the girls again.

“Hey,” came a voice from above. 

Sansa nearly dropped her food. She lifted her head and saw one of the girls of the group standing over her, smiling.

“I’m Margaery,” the girl said.

Sansa hesitated. “My name’s Sansa,” she said finally.

“So Sansa, do you want to come over to us?” Margaery asked her, smile still on her face. It was a very nice smile, Sansa noted. Perfect teeth and plush lips. 

“We’ve got a nice strawberry cake that we’d love to share.”

“Umm,” Sansa said, trying to think of what to say. She had planned her day and her lunch, and hadn’t counted on being asked to hang out with someone. It threw her a bit. Because while admittedly her days were boring and lonely, they were also very quiet and relaxed.

“You don’t have to, of course,” Margaery said, noticing her hesitation.

“No, it’s alright, I’d like to sit with you,” Sansa answered finally. She told herself that this was a good thing. A thing people normally did, a thing she had done before. Hanging out with people, talking to them. She’d been quite good at it, at home.

“Perfect,” the brunette said, still smiling, and held out a hand for Sansa to take.

Sansa stuffed her notes and her food back into her bag and took the hand Margaery offered. Her skin was as soft as it looked. The girl pulled her to her feet, and only let go of her hand after few moments.

“Today is Alla’s birthday, so we thought it was a good idea to get her a cake,” Margaery explained as she led Sansa over to the other girls, “and I won’t tell you how hard it was to get a nice strawberry cake this late in autumn.”

Margaery laughed. “She’s very excited about today, you know. She’s turning eighteen and we’re going to this club on Rosby Street tonight.”

Sansa nodded, a bit unsure what to do with this information. Fortunately she didn’t have time to think about it, as they had reached Margaery’s friends. They sat in a near perfect circle, a giant pink cake in the middle of it. One of the five girls was wearing a pink crown, the same fluffy kind kids dressing up as princesses on Halloween wore.

“This is Sansa,” the brunette told her friends, who giggled and called “Hi Sansa” to her in chorus. Sansa gave a little wave and quiet “Hello” in response.  
The other girl sat down and patted the ground next to her. After Sansa sat down, she realized that everyone was looking at her expectantly.

“I’m Alyce,” the only blonde introduced herself and smiled at Sansa.

“I’m Alysanne,” the girl sitting next to Alyce said, “and others are Alla, Elinor and Megga.” She pointed at each one. 

“Marg, we can cut the cake now, right?” Megga asked and held a small knife up hopefully.

“Oh, Happy Birthday!” Sansa wished Alla, who only smiled shyly and thanked her, all while looking down at her hands. 

With much laughter and many napkins they managed to cut the cake in six equally large pieces. 

“And what are you studying Sansa?” Elinor asked and plucked the last lone strawberry of her cake.

“I’m taking classes for literature and history,” Sansa said, “but I’m not really sure what I’ll specialize in.”

The girls nodded, looking understanding. “Alysanne studies economics and doesn’t have a clue what do to with her classes,” Margaery said, throwing a teasing smile at the girl in question.

“Oh, I know what I want to do,” Alysanne protested.

“Yes, but nobody has ever heard of it, so you can’t just –,” Elinor cut it, leaning over Alla.

“They simply love to argue,” Margaery told Sansa, shifting a bit so she sat closer to her, “and since Alysanne is very touchy about this subject we hear this discussion at least twice a week.”

“And what are you studying?” Sansa asked. She was genuinely interested since she couldn’t guess what the brunette was interested in.

“Well, I’m going to be lawyer one day,” Margaery laughed, “but to be honest I am much more interested in politics.”

“Are you talking about school again, Marg?” Megga asked with an exasperated smile, “it’s a nice sunny day and we have cake. Talk about something else.”

“Your new book, for example,” Alysanne said and handed Sansa a thick book with a red cover. It looked familiar too her.

“Oh, you read that?” Sansa asked, excited. It was by one of her favorite authors, a part of a series.

“Mmh, I only bought it yesterday, but I really like it,” Margaery answered.

“I like the way you never know what happens next. And that every time I think I know where the story leads I get surprised again.”

After that, Sansa and Margaery talked about the books and less else. It was very nice to talk with Margaery. She was attentive and smart and curious about what Sansa had to say. But she didn’t push when she realized that Sansa hesitated before answering some of her more personal questions. 

When lunch was over and they got ready to leave the park, Sansa felt good. She’d talked to someone, even shared lunch with someone and she’d had fun. She hadn’t laughed that much in a long time.

**Author's Note:**

> You would make me very very happy if you tell me what you think of the chapter - because this is the first thing I've posted in years, so if you find any mistakes or have some tips, please tell me :)
> 
> Also, if someone wants to beta read for me, hit be up on [tumblr](http://ariannesmartells.tumblr.com)!


End file.
